So, this is yet another example of the fact that I really need to get reviews done quicker and out the door faster. Here’s a review of the original formulation of RazoRock’s “La Famiglia” Don Marco shaving soap, which has since been superceded by a new formulation. The old one can however still be found at a few spots.

The soap lathers up easily, really thick, with good amount of lubrication. Just be sure to use enough water; this is one of those soaps where you might lather it up, and it could look right, but when you go to use it, it’s not as slick as it should be, because it needs more hydration. But if you get the water balance right, it’s just an excellent soap, with a good amount of moisturization as well.

The scent is quite pleasant, orange-y and citrus-y from the bergamot, with a nice bit of sweetness from the neroli, it is really a nice little package. Unfortunately, it’s not all that strong, starting off at what I’d say is a medium amount, and experiencing some fading from there throughout the shave.

Edit: For those who don’t read the comments, Joe from RazoRock has pointed out that the only change in the formulation was an increase in the strength of the scent by 50%. I presume by that ihe means a 50% increase in the amounts of the fragrance used by either volume or weight. The base soap formula has stayed the same. So… yeah, I’ll probably like the new stuff better.

Now, some of you have probably noticed that I’ve been pretty lazy with getting these reviews out lately. For that, I apologize. It’s had one side effect; rather than trying several soap or cream a couple times, without getting updates out, I’d just been reusing and reusing one of them. So, rather than getting the usual 2 – 3 tries that other soaps and creams get, this upcoming cream has gotten used about ten times that. One of my most thoroughly reviewed products ever!

Wm. (William) Neumann & Co’s schtick is that the descendant of a pharmacist from the turn of the last century found a notebook wherein said gentleman had found the recipes for a bunch of custom scents that the fellow had created.

So I was prompted to purchase this product after seeing Mantic’s review of it. He says that he smelled Cola and Root beer, with a bit of cream soda; his wife got a citrus cream soda vibe. Personally, I’d say it’s cola, root beer, with a bit of Dr. Pepper. It’s a sweet, slightly tangy scent that I think if I were to sniff it blind and be asked what it smelled like, I would probably reply with something similar to “Old Fashioned Soda”. Really suits what they were going for. They describe it as a “secret combination of Orange, Lemon, Nutmeg, Coriander, Neroli, Cinnamon, Wintergreen, Clove, Birch, Star Anise, and Vanilla”, which seems like a reasonable description to me; it comes together quite nicely.

The strength of it was pretty good. It starts off pretty much perfect, although it does experience fairly significant fading as the shave progresses. Still, it was “strong enough” for the time it took to finish off each of my cheeks and the neck, which isn’t too shabby.

As for the performance of the cream itself, it’s very good, although I did find it a bit tricky to get just right. In particular, I found it was fairly easy to over-do it with the amount of water added, leaving a lather that’s too thin. Not too much water is needed at all, and a bit easy to overshoot. That said, when you do get it right, it does result in a very fine lather with some great glide and cushioning, and some good moisturization to boot.

10/10 Scent Pleasantness

8/10 Scent Strength

10/10 Lather Quality

All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty damned fine cream. Fine enough that I believe it deserves a spot on the top ten list; I think I’ll be putting it at number 8 for the time being. 9/10.